Our roads are killing people who cannot afford to drive

This story has significance for readers across Kenya and beyond.

In Nairobi, 40 percent of daily trips are made on foot. You would not know it from the infrastructure. A Bill in Parliament, and a template already built in Addis Ababa, offer a way out.

Of the 4,458 people who died on Kenya’s roads in 2025, 1,685 were pedestrians, according to the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA). That is 37.8 percent of all road fatalities, making pedestrians the single deadliest category for the seventh consecutive year. More pedestrians died than the combined total of drivers and passengers. They were simply walking.

The Kenya Street Design Manual, published in 2022 by the Ministry of Roads and Transport in partnership with ITDP and UN-Habitat, helps explain why. Walking accounts for 40 percent of Nairobi’s daily trips, while 41 percent are made by public transport. Only 13 percent are by private car. Yet for decades, road design has prioritised that minority, at the expense of the majority.

Samburu West MP Naisula Lesuuda has sponsored the Kenya Roads (Amendment) Bill which seeks to make clearly marked, physically separated non-motorised transport (NMT) lanes mandatory on all public roads, including those being repaired or upgraded.

Motorists who encroach on designated NMT lanes would face fines of up to Sh1 million or one year in prison. Implementation is estimated to cost Sh182 billion over five years.

The case for safer infrastructure is compelling. A pedestrian struck by a vehicle travelling at 30 km/h has a 90 percent survival rate. At 45 km/h, that falls to 50 percent.

Kenya already has the engineering standards and policy framework. The 2022 Street Design Manual specifies footpath widths, cycle-track designs, raised crossings and modal hierarchies that place pedestrians first and private cars last.

The Nairobi NMT Policy of 2015 calls for continuous footpaths and dedicated cycle tracks, while the Integrated National Transport Policy highlights inadequate NMT infrastructure. What is missing is a binding legal mandate to build it.

Addis Ababa shows what implementation can achieve. Walking accounts for 60.5 percent of daily trips in Ethiopia’s capital.

The city launched a 10-year NMT Strategy in 2019 and had constructed more than 60 kilometres of walkways and protected cycle tracks by 2025. The strategy targets 600 kilometres of new footpaths and 200 kilometres of cycle tracks across 69 cities and towns nationwide.

The equity dimension is equally important. Schoolchildren, women without access to vehicles, low-income workers and people with disabilities are among those most exposed to dangerous streets and least able to find alternatives. With Kenya’s urban population expected to exceed 22 million by 2030, safe street design is not merely a traffic issue. It is a development priority.

At 1,685 pedestrian deaths in one year, designation without enforcement is not enough. Kenya needs roads designed for the people who actually use them.

Henry K Nyakundi is a professional engineer and a member of EBK

Reporting originally appeared via Business Daily. Read the full source for additional context.